Students are given IT, Analytics and augmentation courses on selected domains to enhance their skills, says Director-MBA

Dr H R Venkatesha, Director MBA at ABBS, discusses the main differentiating aspects that enable ABBS stand out among the other management schools around the country in an interview with Shiksha.com. He discusses the technology-enabled learning environment, the cosmopolitan approach on campus, sectorial analysis, and industry-institute connect as well as other techniques that assist students become industry ready.

Dr Venkatesha holds over thirty five years of teaching experience at some of the most prominent universities in India.

Read the complete interview below.

Q: What are the three things that your Institute is doing that will enable it to differentiate itself from competition?

A: Three important things that differentiate Acharya Bangalore B School (ABBS) from other competing organisations are:

• Cosmopolitan approach in the campus
• Technology Enabled Learning
• Placements

The campus is very cosmopolitan, both from the students and faculty's perspectives. There are students from sixteen different states of India, in addition to few International students in the campus. Equally, faculty are cosmopolitan. This gives a new cultural perspective to learning. The campus life and alumni diversity also adds to the strength of the institution.

Technology-enabled learning is another hallmark of ABBS. TCS, technology-enabled classrooms, focus on MOOC courses, online databases make the learning more effective and efficient.

Placements is another differentiating factor of ABBS. The placement is enriched by taking care of the holistic development of students through IT enabling, Analytics and skill enhancement. The support from top management for placements and the fully enabled placement department makes the job much more productive.

Q: What are the top three initiatives undertaken by you that are helping your students become more industry-ready?

A: Three initiatives undertaken by ABBS to make our students' Industry ready are:

• Sectorial Analysis.
• Skill Development.
• Industry Institute Connect.

Every student has to make an analysis of five different sectors (ex. Retail, IT, Supply Chain and Aviation among others). This gives students to know the nuances of different sectors. Once they understand sector/s, they are asked to research those sector/s. They are made to review articles and read books on those sector/s. This makes students industry-ready, both from the perspective of doing their Internship/Dissertation and placements.

Students are given IT, Analytics and augmentation courses on selected domains to enhance their skills. Activity-based learning, particularly activities like TEDx and Toastmasters gives cutting-edge skills to students.

Institute has a very good network with Industry and industry bodies. For example, ABBS is a life member of the All India Management Association (AIMA), New Delhi, Federation of Karnataka Chamber of Commerce and Industry, (FKCCI), Bengaluru and NHRD. In addition to this, students and faculty interact with industry experts through MDPs, Consultancies, Industry visits, Guest lectures, Conferences and such other events.

Q: What are the key attributes that a student should have in order to qualify for your institution and perform well?

A: A student to qualify for our institution should have the following three key attributes:

• Good Academic record.
• Competitive score in the Entrance Exams and interviews.
• Uniqueness through passion/approach/achievements and ‘fire in the belly’

From the yester year records, it is clear that a student to get top grades in our institution, he/she should have the following key attributes:

• Consistent performance in continuous assessment
• Participation with passion in Dissertation/Internship, experiential learning activities, Seminars & Club Activities
• Skill enhancement & Learning from Co-Curricular & Extra Curricular activities

Q: Which programme/s would you say is/are your best? What is it that helps your institution differentiate itself for this programme?

A: The programme which is best in our institution and differentiates itself from others are:

Business Analytics

ABBS for the last many years is focusing on analytics. For the last one decade every student in made to learn basic IT skills like Advanced EXCEL and the basics of a few analytical tools like R and Python.  Again, ABBS is the first Institution under Bangalore University to conceptualize MBA (Business Analytics) as a programme. The faculty in Institution, Technology Enabled Eco-System in campus & being in Bengaluru, the IT capital of the country enable us to excel in this space.

Q: What are you doing to improve/drive better campus placements for your current students and alumni? What kind of jobs routinely come to campus? What would you say are the key recruitment trends for your college (observed over the past five years)?

A: To improve the campus placement for current students & Alumni, an exclusive empowered placement department under an icon from the Corporate is established. The MBA Alumni numbering more than 2000 from ABBS from yesteryears is one of the strengths of Acharya Bangalore B School.

As the Institution has emphasised on IT, Analytics and emerging areas like Supply Chain Management, Health Care, Banking, Insurance & Allied Sectors, varied and attractive jobs are offered to all specialisation students from HR, Marketing, Finance and Health Care streams.

The key recruitment trends in our institution are:

• More member of new generation organisations are coming for recruitment with a consistent increase in the pay package.
• Recruiters are looking into 360-degree performance of the students, both in domain knowledge and skill.
• Companies from other Metros and tier 2 & 3 cities from across India are showing more interest in our students, in addition to attractive few International offers.